1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technology for reducing power consumption by a packet relay device that is used for relaying packets.
2. Related Art
Packet relay devices such as switches and routers are very important devices in terms of building networks. Increasing scale of networks and increasing volumes of packets being transported seen in recent years have been accompanied by remarkable improvements in processing capabilities or packet relay capabilities of packet relay devices.
Accelerating the operating clock speed is crucial to boosting the processing capabilities of a packet relay device, but the higher operating clock speeds of recent years are associated with higher power consumption by packet relay devices. In this regard, JP-A-2007-228491 discloses technology intended to reduce power consumption by a packet relay device by slowing the operating clock with reference to current conditions of utilization of the packet relay device.
However, simply slowing operating clock of a packet relay device for the purpose of reducing power consumption poses a risk that the amount at which the packet relay device is able to forward packets per unit time will drop.